Wait Until September Congress left last week to start one of their longest summer breaks in decades. As they departed they were unable to get final action on the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456) (Conference Report 114-628). The legislation has been endorsed by CWLA. All week long, bill sponsors had attempted to reach
On Tuesday, the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) held their annual unveiling of their policy report. The report and the panel of speakers are the result of the 2016 CCAI Foster Youth Internship Program® class. The policy report, Powerful Voices: Sharing Our Stories to Reform Child Welfare includes 22 policy recommendation by the 12
Holding Pattern in Senate Last week efforts to adopt the House version of the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456) (Conference Report 114-628) continued but success has stalled—at least temporarily. By week’s end the only thing that was clear is that they had not yet reached unanimous support for the bill and passing it.
Holding Pattern in Senate The Senate comes back mid-week for the waning days of the summer session. Plans are to depart by July 15 with no return until post-Labor Day. As a result, last week there were on-going discussions involving various organizations, foundations, and government representatives with some state and local governments and advocacy groups
Bill Passes House Before House action came to a halt in response to a gun-control sit-down protest, the House of Representatives passed the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456) by a voice vote. The legislation was taken up on Tuesday, June 21 as part of the House suspension calendar which is a House method
The Bill Passes On Wednesday, June 15 the House Ways and Means Committee passed the Family First Prevention Services Act, (HR 5456). The legislation was adopted by a voice vote but only after more than an hour of debate that outlined some of the challenges regarding the proposal and the process. Most members, both Republicans
Part of the delay in the final two years of phase-out of the adoption delink from the 1996 AFDC eligibility standard as included in Family First Prevention Services Act, is that it has been challenging to get data on how states are reinvesting state dollars saved as the federal adoption assistance funding expands due to
HHS has revised and increased the amount given to states under the Adoption and Subsidized Guardianships Incentives Fund. The new revised figures make up for a shortfall paid out of federal fiscal year 2015 funds by taking from federal fiscal year 2016 funds. The awards, recently expanded by Congress to both adoptions and kinship placement
Late Friday afternoon a group of House and Senate Republicans and Democrats released the, Family First Prevention Act along with a summary. The legislation includes three overarching pieces: a reauthorization of the Title IV-B programs (Promoting Safe and Stable Families, Child Welfare Services), new definitions of foster care including greater oversight and limitations of residential/institutional
On Wednesday, May 11 the Congressional Coalition on Adoptions Institute (CCAI) along with Fostering Media Connections in conjunction with the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth hosted a Capitol Hill briefing, Recruiting Top-notch Caregivers and Foster Parents as a Pathway to Permanency. Panelists included Daniel Heimpel, Fostering Media Connections, Dr. Sharon McDaniel, A Second Chance, Pennsylvania,